CODE NAME: MOONLESS

The Committee

When Charlie woke up, he was not at home and he was certainly not in a comfortable position. He was handcuffed to a chair, actually he was handcuffed twice, his right and left hands were each confined by a separate set of hand cuffs on each arm of the chair. The chair itself was really a lavishly carved and ornate throne, with red leather seat and back padding. On each side next to his throne were two stone columns holding two beautiful statue busts of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

The room Charlie was in was dark, but the area he was sitting in was well lit. The floor seemed to made of marble and before him on the floor was a large circle design with what seemed to be a picture of an armor wearing medieval knight riding a warhorse. Above the picture were three latin phrases. The bottom phrase was, lunctus stamus, divisum nos Cadite, meaning United We Stand, Divided We Fall. The middle phrase was, Et custodes de Republica, meaning Watchers of The Republic. The top phrase was et Committee, meaning The Committee. 

The way the room was set up was like a council chamber in a way. In front of Charlie was a long richly polished curved wooden table jetting away from him. There were seven lights shining down upon seven chairs behind the table and the chairs were all exactly like Charlie's chair, except they had blue leather padding. Most impressive of all behind the table and chairs was a gigantic brightly colored horizontal positioned American flag, but it was an unusual American flag. This American flag had its top left hand corner blue field contain only thirty-six stars and the stars were in a circular shape surrounding an elaborate American Bald Eagle design. 

Suddenly from the back of Charlie, where he could not look backwards, someone had snuck up on him and pulled down a black hood over his head. He could not see anything and he had a little trouble breathing properly, however he could still hear sound. He now heard the movement of shoed feet walking past him and the dragging of chairs in front of him at the council table and the sound of people sitting down. 

Then he heard a loud authoritarian voice speaking directly in front of him, most likely sitting at the center of the council table. "Unhood the guilty!"

This time, Charlie heard the footsteps of someone walking towards him from behind, quickly removing the black hood from his head, and just as quickly walking away from him. 

Charlie had to refocus his vision, but what he saw before him were seven white men in their fifties and sixties dressed in very expensive business suits.

Right away Charlie did not waste any time by asking, "Why are you calling me the guilty?"

Collectively all seven men began to laugh and snicker as if Charlie had just asked a very stupid question.

The man sitting in the middle of the council table responded to Charlie's question,"You are guilty of crimes against the United States of America! You are guilty of trying to destroy the American values of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness! You are guilty of wanting to expose the existence of The Committee and its secrets! You are guilty, guilty, guilty!"

Charlie fired back,"No, you are the guilty ones! You are guilty of crimes against the United States of America! You are guilty of actually destroying the American values of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness! You are guilty of murder, conspiracy, and treason while acting as a shadow government wiping away all traces of government of the people, by the people, and for the people! Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty!"

All seven men again began to laugh and the center man spoke again too, "Oh, I like this one. Mister Prince, Let me introduce myself and my committee members. My name is Mister Adams and starting to your left is Mister Franklin, Mister Jefferson, Mister Hamilton, Mister Hancock, Mister Madison, and Mister Monroe. We are the Guiding Council of The Committee, which at this time has well over five thousand members and no we are not the shadow government of the United States! We are the one hundred percent American government of the United States. We are the government of the people, we are the government by the people, and we are the government for the people. WE are the People of the United States!"